2016 F1

Who, what and where…

Who should you be cheering on in 2016 and where can you see F1 this year?

Let’s start with the calendar. There are 21 races due to take place in the 2016 season. The most we have ever seen scheduled in the history of Formula One. Prior to this, 2012 had the most GP’s in a season with 20 races taking place including India, Korea and the European Grand Prix.

So, will there be 21 races this season? It will certainly put a strain on the already slightly dysfunctional Formula One family…teams will work 26 weekends this coming year, a total of around 265 days in 2016.

There is certainly a question mark over at least one race, maybe more. The US Grand Prix is reported to have a £5m funding shortfall due to a Government cut in funding. More positive news has been coming out of the States recently and as one of the seasons most loved race (by both fans and teams) it would be almost unthinkable if the race was cancelled.

Baku is already causing a headache for many in the paddock. There are no direct flights from Canada to Azerbaijan so logistically to get all the kit needed for a Formula One weekend from Montreal to Baku is going to be logistically challenging. That doesn’t even take into consideration the issues that arise with Customs for a new destination on the F1 calendar. There is positive talk from the organisers of Baku who have gone out of their way to talk to as many of the media as possible, but it could become an issue.

So the race schedule for 2016 currently looks like this:

20 March	Melbourne	Australia
3 April	Bahrain	Bahrain
17 April	Shanghai	China
1 May	Sochi	Russia
15 May	Barcelona	Spain
29 May	Monte Carlo	Monaco
12 June	Montreal	Canada
19 June	Baku	Azerbaijan*
3 July	Spielberg	Austria
10 July	Silverstone	United Kingdom
24 July	Budapest	Hungary
31 July	Hockenheim	Germany
28 August	Spa-Francorchamps	Belgium
4 September	Monza	Italy
18 September	Singapore	Singapore
2 October	Sepang	Malaysia
9 October	Suzuka	Japan
23 October	Austin	USA**
30 October	Mexico City	Mexico
13 November	Sao Paolo	Brazil
27 November	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates

What about drivers for 2016?

There are just two seats which haven’t been announced for 2016 and those are the seats of the Manor F1 Team. With a significant change in management at the team you can expect them to leave it late to tell the world who their signings are.

In a poll run on twitter by me the favourite for the seat was American Alexander Rossi, who competed in five races for the team in 2015 with a best finish of 12th at his home race in Austin, Texas. You think he will be in the team alongside Pascal Wehrlein, the reigning DTM Champion who is a Mercedes reserve driver, the tie in being the Mercedes power unit which Manor will run this season.

Will Stevens will be in with a shout to keep his seat at the team and many think the big bucks of Rio Haryanto and the Indonesian Government will win that particular race. Let’s wait and see what happens.

As for new faces, in F1 they are pretty scarce these days. Just one debutant will take to the grid at this rate, Brit Jolyon Palmer has been confirmed to take the seat of Romain Grosjean (who is off to the new Haas F1 Team with Estaban Gutierrez) at Renault F1/Lotus. He will partner Pastor Maldonado in the team that has seen a takeover this winter.

The new team name, full management structure, team partners and other details will be announced before the season starts.In the interim, a new board of directors has been appointed, with Jérôme Stoll as Chairman and Cyril Abiteboul as Managing Director.

And who are you most excited about this coming season?

It’s an easy one to answer…seeing as excitement levels haven’t exactly been tipping the scales of late. Max Verstappen has enchanted a whole nation and the Dutch clearly love him but they are not alone, it would appear Verstappen has bewitched many an F1 fan with his overtaking moves through 2015. At just 18 he has two top four finished so far, his father told me he predicts Max will get on the podium this season. A lot of you agree.

Haas F1 Team are also setting pulses racing. What will they be able to do? Gene Haas is a Motorsport mega-man manufacturing machine tools in the US, he has run a NASCAR team for over 10 years and in this first foray into Formula One there are great expectations. Not Mercedes toppling, but an entry into the middle of the pack would certainly prove you can be a new team and succeed (unlike HRT and Caterham), even if you have a little more help from a team like Ferrari than others who have gone before you.

The other plot line that will hopefully intrigue is the battle between Hamilton and Vettel. Both have almost identical win rates (43 and 42 respectively) and if Ferrari can make the same accelerated improvements that they made going into the 2015 season, then we could have some great battles on our hands.

2017 might be a year of great technical regulation changes but my advice would be don’t write off F1 for 2016…we are bound to see something that will still our beating hearts and make us fall in love all over again. At least, we hope!